California ISO Web Tools Let Users View Renewable Energy Usage Stats

Just how beneficial are all these renewable energies we hear so much about these days? As of this Earth Day, the California Independent System Operator Corporation (ISO) offered the general public two methods of checking on how much renewable power is keeping their lamps lit and televisions glowing.

Each method is a web-based tool engineered to present green energy data in an accessible manner. The first tool, Today’s Wind, “provides an hour-by-hour chart showing the output of California’s major wind resource areas,” according to a California ISO press release, by breaking down wind’s contribution to the grid on an hourly basis. The second tool, Renewables Watch, allows users to view the total renewable energy output used during the previous day by capturing megawatts produced from sources such as wind, solar, biogas, and geothermal; Renewables Watch also separates its information into hourly chunks.

Image via California ISO

Karen Edson, ISO’s Vice President of Policy and Client Services, says the data has been “invaluable to the ISO as we integrate more renewable resources into grid and market operations.” By making the data public, consumers are able to see the role of renewable resources in California energy production rather than learning about them from nebulous and/or unreliable sources.